American Landscape Architecture: Designers and Places (Building Watchers Series) - Softcover

9780891331452: American Landscape Architecture: Designers and Places (Building Watchers Series)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 089133145X ISBN 13: 9780891331452

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1995

Illustrated throughout. Contributors include Thomas Church, Thomas Jefferson, John Charles Olmsted, Charles Eliot, and others. Topics include campuses, gardens, parks, waterfronts, and more. 246p. Measures 4.25x10 inches.

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Review:

American Landscape Architecture is not just a book for gardeners or landscapers. It is a book for those interested in the history of American landscape and the men who shaped it. Tishler begins with Thomas Jefferson and his influential ideas on landscape. Plans and drawings of Monticello, including reproductions of Jefferson's own notes, show that he favored the natural landscape rather than the formal French designs. It's surprising, therefore, that he was instrumental in authoring the Land Ordinance of 1784 which established the precedent of dividing the land beyond the Appalachians into grids. Thus, you learn why we all live on square lots on square blocks centering on the town square. Other important shapers of the American landscape include Frederick Law Olmsted who is most famous for New York City's Central Park; and his stepson, John Charles Olmsted, who designed park systems in Dayton, Seattle, Spokane, Portland (Oregon and Maine), Buffalo, Rochester, Charleston, New Orleans, Chicago, and other locales. Others less well-known but equally interesting illustrate concepts of ordering the environment in ways in which we've only been marginally aware. After dealing with the contributions of the founding architects, the book turns to specific landscapes including cemeteries, campuses, city planning, country estates, gardens, historic landscapes, corporate and institutional landscapes, parks, national forests new communities, parkways, recreational areas, streetscapes, squares and plazas, and so on. Each entry provides a brief historical review that brings us up to the current state of the art. American Landscape Architecture is lavishly illustrated with black-and-white photos and reproductions of old plans and charts. The one fault I would find is that I would like to see more and larger illustrations and perhaps some color photographs, too. The use of black-and-white illustrations, however, does keep the price of the volume low. Though this book would make an excellent text for the study of the history of landscape architecture, it is also a text for gardeners interested in history, those who love the land, and those curious about landscape design history. Highly recommended for all libraries. -- From Independent Publisher

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